Why Scientists Should Embrace The Liberal Arts: Article Analysis

In the 2014 article, “Why Scientists Should Embrace the Liberal Arts,” former Cornell president, David J. Skorton, argues that scientists need to find a better way to communicate their knowledge with the public. Skorton mentions that the general public often has a difficult time believing what scientists try to tell them because they cannot comprehend their jargon. He believes this is happening because scientists lack the skills and education needed to effectively communicate their ideas to the public. Overall, the main goal of Skorton’s article is to display the disconnect between the public and scientists. Based on the content of the paper we can infer that Skorton’s targeted audience is not only educators and scientists, but also the general …show more content…
By using complex language and sentence structure he is able to maintain a sense of professionalism that allows him to be taken seriously. However, he also uses examples that some may find more relatable and that may make it easier for some to comprehend Skorton’s argument. For instance, Skorton pulls out a line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, where a character says that “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate” (Skorton). Moreover, Skorton also uses the example of the famous television show M*A*S*H to state a possible solution to the central issue. On the other hand, Theresa MacPhail’s article “The Importance of Writing Skills in Tech Related Fields” sticks to a completely professional tone. She only refers to the most qualified executives as support for her claims, and does not provide alternate methods of comprehension for those who are new to the field of technology and many not necessarily understand some of the technical language used in her article. To conclude, Skorton’s use of tone is the more effective because it prevents those who are not familiar with the context of the article from being …show more content…
Through his rhetorical strategies and choices, Skorton makes it clear that future scientists need to embrace education in the humanities and arts, in order to bridge the communication gap between themselves and common people. His decisionmaking in this article allows him to create a compelling case that is understandable to almost anyone who reads the article. While other articles do an adequate job in emphasizing their own points, Skorton makes the most successful choices in terms of using relevant evidence and tone to persuade and capture the attention of the